Our Planners

We have offices in Newlands, Cape Town and all of our planners are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professionals; the internationally recognised academic mark of excellence.

Barry O’Mahony

Barry O’Mahony founded Veritas Wealth Management in 2004 with the goal of building long-term relationships with clients who can trust that their financial well-being is the focus at all times.

Barry is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® professional. He holds a Bachelor in Economics, a diploma in Business Administration, a diploma in Social Studies from Oxford University and a post graduate diploma in Financial Planning.

Read more about Barry

Having been named as Financial Planner of the Year by the Financial Planning Institute (FPI) in recent years, and having served as the FPI and CFP® (Certified Financial Professional) brand ambassador, Barry is extremely well-versed in the industry and its legislation, and remains at the forefront of important industry developments. He uses this knowledge to give talks to other financial planning practices on how best to run their business in a professional manner, and to the public on basic financial planning to help avoid pitfalls in their financial affairs.

It was rugby that first brought Barry from Ireland to South Africa, as a player on a 1993 Oxbridge Rugby Tour, but it is South Africa’s potential and outdoor lifestyle that have kept him rooted here since. His first South African post was with asset manager Appleton as a Portfolio Manager, where he later rose to Head of Client Services. After five years, he joined Brait Unit Trusts as the Marketing Director and was then made Head of Practice Development of ipac South Africa.

Passionate about South Africa and the potential it holds, Barry founded the JDI Foundation in 1997, which gives young professionals a framework in which they can use their skills, time, energy and money to help non-governmental organisations.

Barry also helped found Vuka Rugby, which is a partnership between the South African Rugby Legends (SARLA) and the South African Rugby Union (SARU). VUKA Rugby focuses on the promotion of rugby in disadvantaged communities and areas where it is not being played. In 2014 he founded the CoolPlay Trust which uses sport, such as Rugby and Netball, as an analogy to teach life skills. CoolPlay is funded by the Laureus Foundation and Veritas Wealth amongst others.

Barry is married to Lisa and they have two children, Connor and Neave.

Rick Briers-Danks

Rick Briers-Danks joined Veritas Wealth in 2009 after realising that helping others achieve their financial goals was his passion.

Rick joined Veritas Wealth in 2009 as a partner. He is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional who has passed the Key Individual and Rep Regulatory Exams and has a post-graduate diploma in Financial Planning from Free State University.

Read more about Rick

After completing a B.Comm (Hons) degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 1996, Rick received his CIMA qualification and began practising as an accountant in the UK. He remained there for eight years, working in various financial roles, primarily in the Telecoms and IT industry, but eventually South Africa won out, and in 2005 he returned, as Financial Director of Hertz Southern Africa, before then joining Veritas.

Rick is passionate about the benefits of proper financial planning, and enjoys the interaction he has with Veritas’ long-term clients, helping them to become financially secure and achieve their financial goals.

Rick credits his affinity for financial planning with the experience of losing his father at the age of 16. The eldest of four, Rick suddenly found himself assisting his mother at the head of the family, and through some challenging personal times, learned early on in life the value of financial planning.

Rick and his wife Lindy live in Rondebosch and have three children. An avid traveller, Rick has camped on Easter Island with only the shirt on his back, walked the Inca Trail, observed gorillas in the Ugandan jungle and visited Sri Lanka shortly after the 2004 tsunami. Over the years, his love of both travel and long-distance running have intersected frequently; he has run the London Marathon twice, as well as marathons in Vienna, Paris and Prague. Rick also has five Two Oceans and two Comrades marathons under his belt.

Rick believes in giving back and is very involved with the Cableway Charity Challenge which raises R1m each year for a variety of charities.

Clare Cousins

Clare Cousins’ passion for long term client relationships founded on client-centric and fee based advice led her to join Veritas Wealth.

Clare joined Veritas in March 2015. She has a post-graduate diploma in Financial Planning from the University of the Orange Free State and obtained her CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® Professional certification in 2000.

Read more about Clare

Clare completed her Honours Bachelor of Commerce in Financial Management (with distinction) through the University of South Africa. Prior to joining Veritas she worked for a small portfolio management company before joining the Asset Management division of Syfrets. Through her interactions with different specialist areas of the industry, Clare soon realized that her passion lay in the field of Wealth Management, and in building and maintaining long-term relationships with private clients.

Despite legislative changes aimed at offering clients more protection, financial planning is still frequently commission driven. Because of this, Veritas’ value proposition appealed strongly to Clare as the company is one of only a handful that offer transparent, client-centric and fee-based advice.

Clare lives in the Southern Suburbs with her husband Dave and her two children, Christopher and Anna. She enjoys spending time with her family, running, reading and cooking.